THE
SHINING
MOMENT
WHY
IS THIS PLAY BEST FOR YOUR SCHOOL?
Easy
Choice! Top Quality! All
of these plays were professionally developed by ArtReach Touring
Theatre or were commissioned by Professional LORTS like Florida Rep
and Rep of St. Louis. All have had professional tours to
theatres and schools across the country. Many have won awards
in High School One Act Play Contests, Drama and Thespian Speech and
Theatre Competitions.
Easy Staging and Travel! Competitions
rarely take place on your own stage! These One Act Plays have
been designed to travel to the Contest Host Theatre on that important
competition day. All have easy staging, simple sets & costumes,
minimal props, flexible tech for a mainstage or gym/open facility
performance space. At last your students can worry about their
performance, not the set!
Easy to Adapt with Flexible Casting!
When you license any of our One Act Plays you have permission to cut,
adapt and adjust cast size! You also have permission to make a
video or DVD of the production! At last, you are allowed to
adapt a play to your students' needs!
Easy Budget! These
One Act Plays, can be successfully produced on limited budgets and
by small or expanded student casts with little or no tech
assistance. Many have great background CDs for an easy,
inexpensive professional touch!
Easy Ordering! Follow
the steps to order and pay your royalty, once you've paid,
you're good to go! No complicated applications and the
endless trouble of getting permission to make changes for your
students' needs!
Tried
and True! Our
One Act Plays have been performed literally thousands of times by
many professional theatres such as Stella Adler Theatre, Solano Youth
Theatre, Nebraska Theatre Caravan, Singapore Repertory Theatre,
George Street Players, Fulton Theatre Company, Indiana Repertory
Theatre, Boarshead Theatre, Virginia Stage, Honolulu Theatre for
Youth, Kennedy Center and Sundance Children's Theatre, to name a
few. High Schools, Junior Highs, Middle Schools have been
performing these plays for over 30 years!
WILLIAM
HENRY: Aunt Ida tucked me into my little bed on the sleeping
porch. She told me she was glad I came to stay and kissed me. When
she left I could hear her humming down the hall. In a little while
she switched off the last light and it was dark.
(IDA
& ALLY start humming "Silvery Moon" and move away from
each other. They hum quietly and sway to the music.)
WILLIAM
HENRY: I lay pretty quiet for awhile getting lazy in my mind and
thinking dazy thoughts.
(pause)
WILLIAM
HENRY: When all of a sudden there was a...
IDA
& ALLY: Whoosh!
(IDA
& ALLY move around stage creating a violent atmosphere.)
WILLIAM
HENRY: Like you never heard and a...
IDA: Clattering!
ALLY:
And buzzing!
WILLIAM
HENRY: Like some ferocious space ship is falling...
ALLY:
Plum out of the sky!
WILLIAM
HENRY: It was...
ALLY: Zooming!
IDA:
And whooshing!
WILLIAM
HENRY: And then the darkness just rips apart with a terrible...
IDA
& ALLY: SCREECH!
WILLIAM
HENRY: And it's bright like you're standing in a spotlight only
it's all around everywhere you look and things are glowing and
looking hot and red like there's a fire...
IDA:
Only there's no fire!
WILLIAM
HENRY: I jump out of my bed and run to the window...
ALLY:
But the light's so bright!
WILLIAM
HENRY: It hurts my eyes. So I take off running and tearing down
the steps and out of the house like a wild Indian and I'm calling
Ally! Aunt Ida!
IDA:
Ally! Aunt Ida!
ALLY:
Ally! Aunt Ida!
(IDA
& ALLY & WILLIAM HENRY twirl frantically calling "Ally!
Aunt Ida!". This commotion builds then suddenly stops.)
WILLIAM
HENRY: Then all of a sudden it's gone, it's over. It stopped.
(IDA
& ALLY have stopped upstage with back to audience.)
WILLIAM
HENRY: And there I am. I'm standing in the middle of the yard
and my feet are all wet and cold from the dew. I can see the soy bean
plants rustling their leaves across the ground like little rippling
waves on a pond. It was all peaceful.
(pause)
WILLIAM
HENRY: That's when I saw him.
(IDA
& ALLY turn around and look out at a fixed point beyond the
audience. They gasp.)
WILLIAM
HENRY: I could see his outline like a scarecrow standing way out
far in the field and he's got his arms held high and he's swaying
back and forth in the breeze and pretty soon I know it's Grampa
standing straight and tall and swinging around like he's got a bat in
his hand like he's hitting a ball with all his might.
IDA:
But there's no bat.
WILLIAM
HENRY: He's only pretending to hold something.
ALLY:
And there's no ball flying nowhere.
WILLIAM
HENRY: Just then a sound from the house creeps up gentle on me
and in awhile I can tell it's music, it's such pretty music!
(IDA
& ALLY sing "la-la" to Brahms' Lullaby, circling in
opposite directions around WILLIAM HENRY .)
WILLIAM
HENRY: I don't know how I knew but I was sure in my mind that
Ally was playing my records only the record player worked now and the
sound was like a whole chorus of sweet ladies singing lullabies!
IDA
& ALLY: (whispering building) Billy Boy... Billy Boy...
Billy Boy...
(continue)
WILLIAM
HENRY: And Grampa's swinging away and he's calling something now
but I can't tell what he's saying and he's pointing to the black sky
and we both look up...
(IDA
& ALLY stop calling and all look up, follow comet across the sky.)
WILLIAM
HENRY: ...and there's a baseball that's made of yellow...
IDA
& ALLY & WILLIAM HENRY: Fire!
WILLIAM
HENRY: ...with a tail that's streaking through the sky like some
kind of secret salute!
(They
pause looking at comet then WILLIAM HENRY drops to the ground and
gestures out. He is almost in tears.)
WILLIAM
HENRY: Grampa!
Note:
This is a sample from the actual script. To review the entire
play, order the PERUSAL SCRIPT (online instant download).
